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. 1972 Mar;127(1):39–50. doi: 10.1042/bj1270039

Lipid intermediates in the biosynthesis of the wall teichoic acid in Staphylococcus lactis I3

Helen Hussey 1, J Baddiley 1
PMCID: PMC1178557  PMID: 5073752

Abstract

1. Particulate enzyme systems have been prepared from Staphylococcus lactis I3 which effect the synthesis of wall teichoic acid (a polymer containing a repeating unit in which d-glycerol 1-phosphate is attached to the 4-position on N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate) from the nucleotide precursors CDP-glycerol and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. By using nucleotides labelled with 32P and 14C it has been shown that the synthesis proceeds via lipid intermediates. 2. Two intermediates have been found. In one of these N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate is present, whereas in the other the repeating unit of the teichoic acid occurs. 3. The simultaneous formation of the teichoic acid, a poly-(N-acetylglucosamine 1-phosphate) and an unidentified lipid, together with the poor ability of most particulate systems to synthesize polymer and the instability of the lipid intermediates themselves, have interfered with pulse-labelling experiments. Nevertheless, the biosynthetic sequence has been elucidated. It is concluded that the intermediates are derivatives of undecaprenol phosphate.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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